Learn about Albany women who ran businesses 150 years ago
Over 2,000 women ran businesses in mid-19th-Century Albany, including these milliners, according to Susan Lewis.
A. Raymond looks proud of her grocery store. The New Scotland Historical Association is hosting a Feb. 3 talk on Albany businesswomen in the 1800s.
To the Editor:
Running grocery stores, selling pianos, even providing expert plumbing services, are just a few of the positions held by women in the mid-1800s.
Women-run businesses, home-based employment, dual-income marriages, working mothers, and the juggling of domestic and professional priorities?
As revealed by Dr. Susan Lewis’s research, these supposedly recent phenomena were present in a surprisingly large number in mid-19th Century Albany. Dr. Lewis will discuss both general trends and individual businesswomen of this time period.
Lewis, an associate professor emeritus of the State University of New York College at New Paltz, takes special interest in United States Women’s History and New York State History. She writes a blog on state history entitled “New York Rediscovered” (https://newpaltz.edu/nyrediscovered/).
This interesting and informative program will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m. at the Wyman Osterhout Community Center in New Salem on Old New Salem Road.
Admission is always free. Also, the New Scotland Historical Association museum will be open one half-hour before the program.
Judy Kimes
Publicist
New Scotland
Historical Association